Medical Imaging Revolutionizing the Healthcare Industry

By CIOReview | Monday, February 26, 2018

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Medical imaging, also known as diagnostic imaging, is transforming the healthcare industry. Images from technologies such as X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed tomography (CT) make up a large percentage of healthcare data. Today, advanced medical imaging offers numerous benefits to both healthcare providers and patients. It enables physicians to get better insights into an illness and helps make accurate, evidence-based decisions regarding patient care. The procedures are painless and non-invasive and lead to better treatments, shorter recovery time, and decreased mortality and morbidity rates. The most advanced medical imaging allows physicians to detect an illness at an earlier stage and helps diagnose and treat it without even wielding a scalpel. Using medical imaging, the diagnosis of an illness and its severity or benign nature can be identified quickly and accurately. Medical imaging also helps monitor if a disease is progressing, or how a disease responds to treatments and when a treatment plan needs to be altered.

While top-notch imaging can seem costly at the outset, in the long run, it saves a huge amount of money. In the past, most of the clinics and hospitals had minimal capability for file sharing. However, today, it is relatively easy to share information as digital imaging files through cloud-based platforms and networks. The ability to access images from other providers reduces duplication and the number of times a patient is exposed to radiation. Moving forward, application of 3D and 4D technologies can create better images for improved diagnostics in radiology. The future will bring new competencies that have even better medical value. Imaging services will be utilized more efficiently, with fewer healthcare resources wasted, to the benefit of patients, physicians, and workers in the healthcare system.